A judge from New York dismissed Donald Trump’s plea on Wednesday to postpone his trial concerning payments made in secret to Stormy Daniels. This decision was made despite the former US president’s assertion of immunity from drama in a different criminal case awaiting the supreme court’s review. The trial, overseen by Judge Juan Merchan, is expected to commence on April 15th in Manhattan.
Judge Merchan refuted the solicitation for delay made by Trump’s legal team as being inopportune, arguing that they had numerous chances to bring up the matter of immunity prior to its eventual inclusion in a court filing on the 7th of March. Trump’s legal representatives, foreseeing his nomination in the upcoming 2020 presidential campaign for the Republican party, sought an infinite adjournment of the New York trial until the resolution of Trump’s plea for immunity in a federal criminal case regarding election manipulation in Washington DC.
Previously, Judge Merchan had rebuked Mr Trump’s legal team for failing to submit documents within the stipulated timeframe and for neglecting to justify their delayed submission. Furthermore, the previous president’s team only brought up the issue of immunity two and a half weeks before jury selection was due to start.
Mr Trump insists that he is immune from legal action related to his alleged official activities during his term in office. His solicitors claim that some charges and evidence from the secret-payment case overlap with Trump’s official duties while serving as US president.
The criminal trial of Mr Trump, marking the first such trial of a former US president, is slated to commence on April 15th with the selection of jury members. Mr Trump vehemently denies the 34 allegations of falsifying commercial records to obfuscate his previous solicitor Michael Cohen’s secret payment of $130,000 to adult entertainer Stormy Daniels. This payment was to ensure Daniels’ silence regarding an intimate interaction she alleges occurred with Trump before the 2016 elections.
In a recent act, Judge Merchan broadened a restraining order against Mr Trump, prohibiting him from making disparaging remarks about the judge’s family, who became targets of Trump’s personal derogatory remarks. The current protective order allows Trump to criticise the judge and the district attorney of Manhattan, Alvin Bragg, who accused Trump last year of concealing a sexual scandal before the 2016 elections.
However, in the revised order, the judge has expressly forbidden Trump from launching personal attacks on the families of any lawyers or court staff involved in the case, including his and the district attorney’s families.